r.e.s.p.e.c.t.

the topic today- respect (which i can't spell without singing the song in my head). today is the second anniversary of my marriage to pete. in honor of that, i read ephesians 5.22-33 during my devotions. of course i paid a bit more attention to the information for wives than i did for the husbands. this passage hit me differently today than any other time i have read it. in previous times, i would read it as the wife, and the relationship of Christ to the church was viewed as an aid to making my marriage better. but today i viewed the passage as the church. so, if the wife is to submit and respect her husband as the church is to Christ, why is that hard? i think it is hard (for most people) because we as the church don't have the proper respect for God. i know that seems harsh, but like most marriages, the roles that come naturally are not the ones we are commanded to do. follow me for a moment, it is easy (enough) for husbands to respect their wives, but to love them (as they are commanded) takes effort. the same goes for wives, to love is an easy thing, but respecting the husband is the area that does not come naturally. so, church, why is it easier for us to love God than to respect him? (maybe for you reading this it is easy, good, keep it up, but these are just my thoughts on the passage)

we should respect Christ for He is holy. it is hard to understand, but many Bible verses talk about fearing the Lord, which is just as important as loving Him. if we do not have a good example to follow as it would suggest in ephesians, then how will we know what a good marriage looks like? we as the church (married or not) should strive to respect Christ in all His wonder, for that is how the relationship should be.

4 comments:

Ryan said...

YEAH! thats awesome. too true unfortunately. its really a sad thing when you think about it... but it makes sense when you think that we mess everything else up. (like our view of love vs God's view). well done amy, good thinking! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

melissa o said...

I think of it this way Ames...

Why am I so OK, or whatever, submitting to Matt - but with God it is almost ALWAYS a struggle...

I put God above my husband. I love God above my husband. But submitting is not something that I have learned to master with God.

Why am I a control freak with one thing and so willing in another? THANK YOU for putting it that way!

Kimber said...

Agh! Amy, you seriously hit some hard stuff on the head with this. I am so glad you wrote about having respect for God, because that is a HUGE issue for a lot of people. It's kind of like when your parents asked you to do something when you were younger, and all you could do is just sit there and whine "but whhhyyy?", only now we are older, and the things we don't do when asked by God are a LOT bigger deal. Sometimes we just have to listen to Him, and even if we don't want to do what he is asking, he knows best, and it would be best for us to just obey.
Cheers to you miss!

Meredith said...

It's interesting that you would blog about respect because sunday night at church my pastor preached out of Malachi 1:6 where it talks about God's disgust with the Children of Isreal because of their lack of honour and respect toward Him. Pastor tied that into the "fear of the Lord" and how we as Christians often times have a distorted view of who God is and therefore our lack of repect comes from hearts that go through the "motions" of Christianity and forget completely about the houring and respecting part.
It was like a slap in the face for me because I don't really know what my view of God is. I mean I know he's holy and righteous but it doesn't seemd like I live my life according to that.
Those are just some thoughts that we spured on by your blog. Thanks so much for being willing to share what God's been teaching you. It's a blessing to know that we're running in the same race and that their are friends out there that are hearing from God and learning more about Him through His word.

Stay strong and keep on the "straight and narrow"